Saturday, 25 October 2008

Pope Pius XII: saviour of the Jews in Europe during World War II

It has been open season on the Servant of God, Pope Pius XII, ever since the Hochhuth play entitled The Deputy (Der Stellvetreter).

However, in recent times it has got much worse since renegade Catholic and purveyor of falsehood, John Cornwall, published his book attacking the late Pope.

On the cover of this book, Cornwell does not hesitate to place a photograph of Pius XII exiting a building being saluted by guards in German coal-scuttle helmets. Impression? - that they are Nazis... except for one hidden fact: the photo was taken in 1929 during the Weimar Republic before the Nazis came to power!

Happily, however, Cornwall's dishonest book has spawned over 25 new books rebutting his falsehoods severally, seriatim and in detail.

Let us, however, not take our cue from the mendacious Mr Cornwall.

Let us hear what the Jews themselves said of Pope Pius XII.

Dr. Joseph Nathan wrote: "Above all, we acknowledge the Supreme Pontiff and the religious men and women who, executing the directives of the Holy Father, recognized the persecuted of their brothers and, with great abnegation, hastened to help them, disregarding the terrible dangers to which they were exposed".

At Pope Pius XII’s death in 1958, Golda Meir sent an eloquent message: "We share in the grief of humanity. When fearful martyrdom came to our people in the decade of Nazi terror, the voice of the pope was raised for its victims. The life of our times was enriched by a voice speaking out about great moral truths above the tumult of daily conflict. We mourn a great servant of peace".

During and after the war, many well-known Jews — Albert Einstein, Moshe Sharett, Rabbi Isaac Herzog, and innumerable others — publicly expressed their gratitude to Pius.

In his 1967 book The Last Three Popes and the Jews, the Israeli diplomat Pinchas Lapide (who served as Israeli consul in Milan and interviewed Italian Holocaust survivors) declared Pius XII "was instrumental in saving at least 700,000, but probably as many as 860,000 Jews from certain death at Nazi hands".

In response to the new attacks on Pius XII, several Jewish scholars have spoken out recently. Sir Martin Gilbert told an interviewer that Pius XII deserves not blame but thanks.

Michael Tagliacozzo, the leading authority on Roman Jews during the Holocaust, added, "I have a folder on my table in Israel entitled 'Calumnies Against Pius XII.' . . . Without him, many of our own would not be alive".

Richard Breitman (the only historian authorized to study U.S. espionage files from World War II) noted that secret documents prove the extent to which "Hitler distrusted the Holy See because it hid Jews".

Despite allegations to the contrary, the best historical evidence now confirms both that Pius XII was not silent and that almost no one at the time thought him so.

Any fair and thorough reading of the evidence demonstrates that Pius XII was a persistent critic of Nazism.

Of the forty-four speeches Pacelli gave in Germany as papal nuncio between 1917 and 1929, forty denounced some aspect of the emerging Nazi ideology.

In March 1935, he wrote an open letter to the bishop of Cologne calling the Nazis "false prophets with the pride of Lucifer".

That same year, he assailed ideologies "possessed by the superstition of race and blood" to an enormous crowd of pilgrims at Lourdes. At Notre Dame in Paris two years later, he named Germany a "nation whom bad shepherds would lead astray into an ideology of race".

Holocaust survivors such as Marcus Melchior, the chief rabbi of Denmark, argued that "if the pope had spoken out, Hitler would probably have massacred many more than six million Jews".

Chief Rabbi Marcus Melchior of Denmark, Holocaust survivor, said that if Pope Pius XII had spoken out more Jews would have perished

Robert M W Kempner called upon his experience at the Nuremberg trials to say (in a letter to the editor after Commentary published an excerpt from Guenter Lewy in 1964): "Every propaganda move of the Catholic Church against Hitler's Reich would have been not only 'provoking suicide,' . . . but would have hastened the execution of still more Jews and priests".

The Dutch bishops' pastoral letter condemning "the unmerciful and unjust treatment meted out to Jews" was read in Holland's Catholic churches in July 1942. The well-intentioned letter — which declared that it was inspired by Pius XII — backfired.

Lapide wrote: "The saddest and most thought-provoking conclusion is that whilst the Catholic clergy in Holland protested more loudly, expressly, and frequently against Jewish persecutions than the religious hierarchy of any other Nazi-occupied country, more Jews — some 110,000 or 79 percent of the total — were deported from Holland to death camps".

Bishop Jean Bernard of Luxembourg, an inmate of Dachau from 1941 to 1942, notified the Vatican that "whenever protests were made, treatment of prisoners worsened immediately".

Late in 1942, Archbishop Sapieha of Cracow and two other Polish bishops, having experienced the Nazis' savage reprisals, begged Pius XII not to publish his letters about conditions in Poland.

As early as December 1940, in an article in Time magazine, Albert Einstein paid tribute to Pius XII: "Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing the truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced thus to confess that what I once despised, I now praise unreservedly".

In 1943, Chaim Weizmann, who would become Israel's first president, wrote that "the Holy See is lending its powerful help wherever it can, to mitigate the fate of my persecuted co-religionists".

Chaim Weizmann, first President of Israel wrote that the Holy See was helping to rescue Jews

Moshe Sharett, Israel's second prime minister, met with Pius XII in the closing days of the war and "told him that my first duty was to thank him, and through him the Catholic Church, on behalf of the Jewish public for all they had done in the various countries to rescue Jews".

Moshe Sharett, Israel's second Prime Minister, said it was his "first duty" to thank Pope Pius XII

Rabbi Isaac Herzog, Chief Rabbi of Israel, sent a message in February 1944 declaring "The people of Israel will never forget what His Holiness and his illustrious delegates, inspired by the eternal principles of religion, which form the very foundation of true civilization, are doing for our unfortunate brothers and sisters in the most tragic hour of our history, which is living proof of Divine Providence in this world".

Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog of Ireland and then, later, of Israel, wrote that the people of Israel will never forget what Pope Pius XII was doing to help Jews

In September 1945, Leon Kubowitzky, secretary general of the World Jewish Congress, personally thanked the pope for his interventions, and the World Jewish Congress donated $20,000 to Vatican charities "in recognition of the work of the Holy See in rescuing Jews from Fascist and Nazi persecutions".

In 1955, when Italy celebrated the tenth anniversary of its liberation, the Union of Italian Jewish Communities proclaimed 17 April a "Day of Gratitude" for the pope's wartime assistance.

On 26 May 1955, the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra flew to Rome to give a special performance in the Vatican of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony — an expression of the State of Israel's enduring gratitude to the pope for help given the Jewish people during the Holocaust.

Pius XII was one of the few world leaders outside Jewry itself who was quick to recognize the danger of Nazism. Lapide’s book The Last Three Popes and the Jews demonstrates convincingly the consistent and active protection provided to Jews in Europe by the papacy.

Rev Jean Charles-Roux, now a Rosininian priest living in Rome and whose father was French Ambassador to the Holy See in the 30’s, lived with his family in Rome during the fateful pre-war period. He recalls that the Pope told his father as early as 1935 that the new regime in Germany was "diabolical".

The Ambassador frequently warned his government but the general reaction in France was chiefly that it was good to see the back of the Prussian militarist and that it was no bad thing that an Austrian-Czech house painter was now Chancellor.

The reaction in the USA and Britain was scarcely different at that time; and even later when they must have begun to know about the camps. The U.S. government accepted a total of 10,000 – 15,000 Jewish refugees throughout the war. — a scandalously small number.

Britain was little better and before the war the government had been full of "appeasers", the Duke of Windsor visited Hitler and Lloyd George, astonishingly, even went so far as to call him "the greatest living German".

Former British Prime Minister, David Lloyd-George, then Lord Lloyd-George, with Hitler, called the Nazi leader "the greatest living German". So much for the supposedly great Welsh "Liberal" leader - but no-one has yet spoken of "Hitler's Welsh Liberal".

In August 1943 Pius XII received a plea from the World Jewish Congress to try to persuade the Italian authorities to remove 20,000 Jewish refugees from internment camps in Northern Italy.

"Our terror-stricken brethren look to Your Holiness as the only hope for saving them from persecution and death" they wrote.

In September 1943, A L Easterman on behalf of the WJC reported to the Apostolic Delegate in London (there was no Nuncio since the British government always refused to recognize the diplomatic rights of the Holy See—a hangover from our anti-Catholic past). He reported that the efforts of the Holy See on behalf of the Jews had been successful and wrote, "I feel sure that the efforts of your Grace, and of the Holy See have brought about this fortunate result, and I should like to express to the Holy See and yourself the warmest thanks of the World Jewish Congress".

In November, 1943 Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog wrote to Cardinal Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII, then Apostolic Delegate for Turkey and Greece, saying: "I take this opportunity to express to your Eminence my sincere thanks as well as my deep appreciation of your very kindly attitude to Israel and of the invaluable help given by the Catholic Church to the Jewish people in its affliction. Would you please convey these sentiments which come from Sion, to His Holiness the Pope [Pius XII] along with the assurances that the people of Israel know how to value his assistance and his attitude".

The American Jewish Welfare Board wrote to Pius XII in July 1944 to express its appreciation for the protection given to the Jews during the German occupation of Italy.

At the end of the war, the World Jewish Congress expressed its gratitude to the Pope and gave 20 million Lire to Vatican charities.

Another Israeli diplomat in Italy claimed that: "The Catholic Church saved more Jewish lives during the war than all the other Churches, religious institutions and rescue organizations put together. Its record stands in startling contrast to the achievements of the International Red Cross and the Western Democracies".

Chief Rabbi of Rome, Israel Zolli, converted to Roman Catholicism and took the baptismal name of "Eugenio", the Christian name of Pope Pius XII, in admiration of his help for the Jews.

As a matter of simple historical fact, Rabbi Israel Zolli, the Chief Rabbi of Rome, was received into the Catholic Church in 1945 after the war was over. He was baptized entirely of his own free will and asked Pius XII, with whom he had worked closely in the saving of Jewish lives, to be his godfather. Dr. Zolli chose the name Eugenio as his baptismal name precisely because it was Pius XII’s own Christian name.

These facts are rarely mentioned by commentators, yet they are clearly vital to any assessment of the reputation of Pius XII.

Instead a mendacious campaign has been maintained against the good name of that pope, largely centring around the accusation that he kept silent during the war about the plight of the Jews and refused to mention them by name. It is now implied by some that this was so because he was racist and an anti-Semite.

Those who make such claims often have a dark past of their own to conceal. One such was Rolf Hochhuth, the first to begin the hate campaign. What few know is that Hochhuth was, himself, a former member of the Hitler Youth.

Rolf Hochhuth, former Hitler Youth member, who worked out his guilt by defaming Pope Pius XII

Oskar Schindler, a Roman Catholic, is regarded as a "righteous gentile" by many Jews for saving the lives of some 1,200 Jews in his factories. Why then is Pope Pius XII so unjustly criticized, despite saving over 800,000 Jewish lives?

Pope Pius XII saved some 800,000 Jewish lives during the Holocaust, more than all the other agencies and individuals put together - yet some dishonestly call him "Hitler's Pope". It is a low calumny against a great man.

29 comments:

Sharon
said...

Of the forty-four speeches Pacelli gave in Germany as papal nuncio between 1917 and 1929, forty denounced some aspect of the emerging Nazi ideology.

This quote is everywhere but I have never read the primary source. Could you give me the primary source please. The nearest I could get was the book by Pinchas Lapide which I haven't read. Maybe he sources the claim by stating where we could read the speeches.

They are in a supplement to the Acta Apostolicae Sedis as well as the files of the Secretariat of State (which you can apply to see) and the files of the German Nunciature (which you can also apply to see).

So far as I know they have not yet been collected and published, although I think that would be a good idea.

You really should read Lapide's book as that completely gives the lie to Cornwell's black propaganda.

Cornwell, by the way, spent only 2 short sessions in the Vatican library archives, as the visitors' book testifies.

His "great revelation" which "sat in the archives like a time bomb" was no revelation at all since most scholars on the subject knew it well and there was nothing untoward about Pacelli's activities as Nuncio, at all.

# What did Pope Pius XII do about the many of the most vicious architects of the Nazi Holocaust who were Roman Catholics, i. e. Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, Josef Goebbels, Reinhard Heydrich, Rudolf Hoess, Julius Streicher, Fritz Thyssen, Klaus Barbie, and Franz Von Papen and R. C. Engelbert Dollfuss was head of the Nazi state of Austria.# R. C. Leon Degrelle was head of the Nazi state of Belgium.# R. C. Emil Hacha was head of the Nazi state of Bohemia-Moravia.# R. C. Ante Pavelic was head of the Nazi state of Croatia.# R. C. Adolf Hitler was head of the Nazi state of Germany.# R. C. Miklos Horthy was head of the Nazi state of Hungary.# R. C. Konrad Henlein was head of the Nazi state of Sudetenland.# R. C. Pierre Laval was head of the Nazi state of Vichy-France.# R. C. Henry Petain was head of the Nazi state of Vichy-France.# R. C. priest, Fr. Augustin Voloshin was head of the Nazi state of Ruthenia.# R. C. priest, Fr. Josef Tiso was head of the Nazi state of Slovakia.# R. C. priest, Fr. Andrei Hlinka was head of the Nazi state of Slovakia.# R. C. priest, Fr. Anton Koroshec was head of the Nazi state of Yugoslavia.

Did Pope Pius XII excommunicate any of these the most visible Catholics in their countries at the time? NO. How can anyone say that this pope did "all that he could", when he failed to take this obvious measure so as to make it clear to the millions of Catholic faithful who were enabling the Nazis to carry out their campaigns of mass murder, not only against Jews, but against their fellow Catholics in Poland, that they should have no part in these monstrous of crimes and most mortal of sins? On the other hand, after the Nazis were defeated and no longer posed any threat to the pope, the Vatican, or the Catholic Church anywhere, did Pope Pius XII allow the Vatican to be used to protect thousands of Catholic war criminals such as the above to escape punishment for their war crimes? YES. Whose side was the pope on?

Your highly unoriginal and mendacious information is simply a regurgitation from your own black propaganda web-site.

Your primary response is the typically bigoted, and indeed racist, one of assuming that those living in formerly Catholic parts of Europe must necessarily have been Catholic.

Most importantly, you do not deny - because you cannot - the testimony of Jewish leaders praising Pius XII for saving so many Jewish lives.

This is in stark contrast to the appalling record of the Protestant churches - and it seems you are a Protestant minister yourself - which willingly collaborated with the Nazi regime, praised Hitler to the skies and became willing servants of the Nazi regime.

It was no coincidence that it was the Protestant parts of Germany that had the highest votes for Hitler and the Catholic parts that had the lowest.

Pius XII had no influence over men who utterly detested and rejected Roman Catholicism.

Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels, Heydrich, Hoess, Streicher, Thyssen and Barbie were all bitter enemies of the Roman Cathlic Church and did not hesitate to murder Catholics and Catholic priests.

You would be on safer ground saying that Martin Luther was a Roman Catholic, since he did, at least, begin as one and became a Catholic priest. But he founded the Protestant movement from which all other Protestant movements spring - including that of your own church. Some "Catholic"!

Demonstrating your woeful ignorance of history you consider that Admiral Miklos Horthy was a Catholic when he was, in fact, an Hungarian Protestant!

Your ignorance does not stop there.

Laval was never a Catholic but began life as a Socialist, Petain was a Freemason, not a Catholic and Pavelic was, from his youth, not a Catholic but an extremist nationalist only.

Degrelle was excommunicated and his Rexist Party split from Catholic politics in 1935.

Emil Hacha was an old man, threatened with murder by Hitler and his country bombed and invaded and a gun held to his head. He died shortly after the war in a Soviet concentration camp.

Andrej Hlinka died in 1938 and was a Slovak nationalist never supporting the Nazis; Anton Korošec left office in 1929 before the Nazis even came to power; Avhustyn Ivanovych Voloshyn was an enemy of Hitler, was President of Transcarpathia for a few days before being ousted by Hitler's Hungarian allies and later died in a KGB prison camp in Butryka.

The sole exeption is Tiso who bowed to Nazi pressure and introduced anti-Semitic laws. He seems to have had anti-Semitic views himself.

However, public protests and strong pressure from Pope Pius XII to stop the deportations of Jewish civilians resulted in Slovakia becoming the first state in the Nazi sphere to stop deportations of Jews.

Furthermore, between October 1942 and October 1944, an independent Slovakia even served as a safe last resort for Jews suffering persecution in Nazi-occupied neighbouring countries.

So you are quite wrong that Pius XI did nothing. The reverse is true as is testified by those Jewish leaders whose testimony you hypocritically ignore.

Franz Von Papen and Engelbert Dollfuss had nothing whatever to do with the deportation or murder of Jews. Papen was sacked by Hitler and Dollfuss was murdered by the Nazis.

"Did Pope Pius XII excommunicate any of these the most visible Catholics in their countries at the time?" YES. He did.

And where he did not - as Lapide and other Jews testify - it was to save Jewish lives.

Hypocrites like you wish he had made a fruitless gesture that would have resulted in more Jewish deaths. Then you pretend that you care about Jewish lives! You obviously do not!

The truth is that you are only interested in prosecuting your campaign of hatred against Pope Pius XII and in favour of your own brand of dessicated, hypocritical "Chritianity".

Craven hypocrites, like the German Protestants who were the willing tools of Hitler, try to divert blame from themselves onto the courageous Pius XII.

Protestants who attack Pius XII but ignore the terrible treachery of the German Protestants are not much better.

Your logic is impeccable. 1) Call me names and hurl insults. You know your Catholic readership, so you must know that's all it takes to persuade them.2) Say that "you are quite wrong that Pius XI did nothing." and proceed to disprove a position that neither I nor any of the many other serious critics of Pius XII have ever claimed.

What I did was ASK A QUESTION, i.e. "did the pope excommunicate any of the great number of Catholics in the leadership of the Nazi Party which I listed, to which your response is the classic Catholic apology, i. e. "YES he did, and NO he didn't".

The first part of your reply "Yes he did" . . . is astoundingly informative. Nobody but YOU need know how many or who, or when.

The second part of your reply, i.e. anybody like me who believes that Pius should have acted and spoken out much more on behalf of the Jews, is a "Hypocrite", who "pretends to care about Jewish lives", when we "obviously do not". Tell that to the many Jewish scholars on whom I have based my conclusions, i.e."A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and Its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair", by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen (2002) "Hitler's Willing Executioners", by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, (1996)"The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany" by Guenter Lewy, (McGraw-Hill, 1964) Pius XII and the Third Reich. by Saul Friedlander, 1966 The Years of Persecution 1933-1939, by Saul Friedlander, 1997, The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews 1939-1945, by Saul Friedlander, published in 2007"The Popes Against the Jews : The Vatican's Role in the Rise of Modern Anti-Semitism", by David I. Kertzer, (2001)"The Crucified Jew: Twenty Centuries of Anti-semitism " by Dan Cohen-Sherbok , pub.1992 The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930-1965, by Michael Phayer, 2001. "Pius XII, the Holocaust, and the Cold War", by Michael Phayer, 2007. "The Real Odessa", by Uki Goni, 2002, demonstrates that Pius knew that ecclesiastical institutions in Rome were hiding war criminals. "NAZI Terror, The Gestapo, Jews and Ordinary Germans", by Eric Johnson, a professor of history."Unholy Trinity: The Vatican, The NAZIs, and The Swiss Banks" by Mark Aarons, John Loftus &"The Vatican and the Holocaust: A Preliminary Report. International Jewish Catholic-Jewish Historical Commission: Submitted to The Holy See's Commission for Religious Relations with Jews. October, 2000. "The Abandonment of the Jews"by David Wyman:"The NAZI Holocaust", by Ronnie S. Landau

Not only did I give you the evidence from out of the mouths of Jews who actually lived and suffered during the holocaust, unlike self-indulgent, self-righteous, safe, comfortable, post-war, armchair hypocrites like you, but - more importantly - you have failed to gainsay a single one of them!

You cannot even read when you are told that Degrelle was excommunicated but you also are clearly incapable of reading what Lapide and others wrote - even though this will be the THIRD time I have pointed it out to you - that futile excommunications, calculated only to satisfy armchair hypocrites like you, and that after the event, would not only not save Jewish lives but would have actively endangered perhaps millions more.

To the Sacred College of Cardinals Pope Pius XII wrote on 2 June 1943: "Every word that We addressed to the responsible authorities and every one of Our public declarations had to be seriously weighed and considered in the interest of the persecuted themselves in order not to make their situation unwittingly even more difficult and unbearable".

But no - with your wholly unjustified self-righteousness - you, who never had to face the Nazi butchers, let alone make the kind of decisions that leaders then had to make, would prefer useless denunciations rather than the saving of Jewish lives.

How many more Jews did you want to be killed to satisfy your desire for worthless denunciations?

How many more Jews did you want to be killed before your hatred of Pius XII would be assuaged?

Wasn't 6 million Jewish deaths enough for you?

How many more would have satisfied you?

Some "liberator" you are!

Against the background of the black propaganda against Pius XII, Rabbi David Dalin of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, directed a ferocious attack in his speech, "Pius XII and the Jews" against those who, like you, sought to defame the late pope.

The lecture, given in honour of Rabbi Joseph Klein took place on Wednesday, 17 April 2002, in the Hagan Campus Centre Hall of Assumption College , Massachusetts.

Rabbi Dalin’s view is that the accusation that Pius XII was "Hitler's Pope" is ludicrous and completely unsubstantiated.

Dalin traced the origin of the anti-Pius sentiment back to "The Deputy”, the play by former Hitler Youth member, Rolf Hochhuth.

Spurred on by the play's success, said Dalin, other authors began to write books that "proved" Pius did nothing during the Holocaust. These books proliferated and became famous, and along with "The Deputy", began to mould the public's perception of Pius XII but it was an entirely false portrayal.

In fact, says Dalin, the reverse was true. He was a great saviour of Jewish lives.

Many other Rabbis have since come to the defence of Pius XII.

Characteristically, your blind hatred of Pius XII rather than desire to see Jewish lives saved, leads you only to books which feed your obsessive hatred and whose authors also have axes to grind.

Nearly everyone of the writers you cite have been repudiated by mainstream Jewish commentators, especially those who actually lived through the holocaust.

Needless to say, with all the balance of the false trader's weighted scales, and all the barefaced dishonesty of the counterfeiter, you studiously avoid any of the huge and growing number of books that tell the true story of Pius XII and the Jews.

Instead, sitting in the comfort of modern America, never having had to face a vicious, brutal, totalitarian regime like that of the Nazis, or indeed any oppressive regime at all, you peddle a panoply of black propaganda and disinformation against one who faced the terror and saved so many Jews, all in support of those plying a campaign of hatred against the innocent.

"Whited sepulchres, how can you be saved?"

=====

Here are but a few publications which, had you but the integrity and courage to read any of them (which I strongly doubt), would show you the grotesque falsity of the myths perpetrated against Pope Pius XII, the saviour of half a million Jewish lives - more than all the other agencies put together:

Books

O'Carroll, Rev M, Pius XII: Greatness Dishonored.Akin, J, How Pius XII Protected Jewish Lives.Blet, Rev P, Pius XII and the Second World War: According to the Archives of the Vatican.Bottum, J and Dalin, Rabbi D, The Pius War: Responses to the Critics of Pius XII.Boyle, S, Pius XII and the Jews: Greatness dishonoured.Craughwell, T, Pius XII and the Holocaust.Dalin, Rabbi D, The Myth of Hitler's Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews from the Nazis.Di Giovanni, S, Pius XII and the Jews: The War Years.Graham, Rev R, How to Manufacture a Legend: The Controversy over the Alleged Silence of Pope Pius XII in World War II.Gumpel, Rev P, Pius XII As He Really Was.Lichten, J, A Question of Judgment; Pius XII and the Jews: Pius XII and the Jews.Lichten, J (ed), Pius XII and the Holocaust, A Reader.(About 50% of this volume was written in 1963 by Dr. Joseph Lichten, a Jewish Polish lawyer who served as the Director on International Affairs Department for the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith)Marchione, Rev Sr M, Yours Is a Precious Witness: Memoirs of Jews and Catholics in Wartime Italy.Marchione, Rev Sr M,Consensus and Controversy: Defending Pope Pius XII.Marchione, Rev Sr M, Pope Pius XII: Architect for Peace.Marchione, Rev Sr M, Consensus and Controversy: Defending Pope Pius XII.Marchione, Rev Sr M, Shepherd of Souls: A Pictorial Life of Pope Pius XII.Marchione, Rev Sr M, Man of Peace: An Abridged Life of Pope Pius XII.McInerney, Ralph. The Defamation of Pius XII.Nash, T, Pius XII and the Jews: A Friend in Word and Deed.O'Brien, Felicity. Pius XII.Phayer, M, The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930-1965.Roosevelt, Franklin D, Myron C. Taylor, ed. Wartime Correspondence Between President Roosevelt and Pope Pius XII.Roth, J, Rittner, C, Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust.Rychlak, Ronald J., 2000. Hitler, the War, and the Pope. Our Sunday Visitor.Rychlak, Ronald J., Righteous Gentiles: How Pius XII and the Catholic Church Saved Half a Million Jews from the Nazis.Zolli, Israel, Before the Dawn.

A small selection of other rebuttals of the slanders against Pius XII:

Cornwell’s Pope: A Nasty Caricature of a Noble and Saintly Man. Against John Cornwell's book: "Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII," a point by point rebuttal is provided by Dr. Peter Gumpel, S.J., one of the most respected authorities on the Catholic Church and the Second World War and postulator of the cause for beatification of Pius XII.

Did Pius XII Remain Silent? – Fr William Saunders.In spite of Hitler’s reprisals against the Church, the Pope did speak out against persecution of the Jews, and acted in secret, to deliver as many as possible from the Nazis.Difficult Relations Between Church and Nazism

On 4 May 2000, the Pontifical Athenaeum "Regina Apostolorum" in Rome held a Congress on "The Martyrs of Eastern Europe and Nazism." Among the speakers was Fr. Peter Gumpel, a prestigious historian and official postulator of the Society of Jesus, who addressed the topic of the relations between the Catholic Church and Nazism.

Eichmann’s Diary Reveals Church’s Assistance to Jews.Adolf Eichmann’s diaries, executed in 1962 for "crimes against the Jewish people and against humanity," show that the Pope "vigorously protested the arrest of Jews, requesting the interruption of such action”.

Historical Truth of Pius XII’s Work.Sister Margaret Marchione’s book, Pius XII: Architect of Peace, looks at the Holocaust, and praises Pius XII’s work in support of the persecuted. The author, who is internationally known for her numerous publications on historic figures, maintains that this Pontiff was one of the most invaluable protectors of the Jews in countries dominated by National Socialism, whose atrocities he condemned.

Jewish Recognition of Pope Pius XII’s Support. Reports that "a document has been discovered in Israel that not only confirms Pius XII's role in defense of persecuted Jews, but reveals that world leaders of the Jewish communities at the time were very aware of his action, to the point that after the war they came to Rome and gave the Catholic Church a very generous donation”.

Jewish-Catholic Commission to Study World War II.Six scholars, three Catholic and three Jewish, will form a joint team to study the 11 volumes of Vatican documents relating to the Second World War. In particular, the Commission will analyze the Catholic Church’s relation with the Jews during those very complex years of world history.

New Studies Document Pius XII’s Opposition to Nazism.A new book, "Fascism, the Church, and the Catholic Movement in Italy: 1922-1943," by Russian historian Evghenija Tokareva, sheds further light on Pius XII’s response to Nazi persecution of the Jews.

Pius XII and the Holocaust - The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.Compilation of articles, including two by Robert A. Graham, S.J., "How to Manufacture a Legend," on the alleged silence of Pius XII, and "Pius XII’s Defence of Jews and Others," written with full access to the Vatican Archives;

Pius XII and the Jews - National Association of Catholic Families.In response to the question, why Pius XII did not speak out more forcefully against Hitler, historian Fr Dermot Fenlon of the Birmingham Oratory looks at the facts and sets the record straight.

Pius XII Rehabilitated by Jewish HistorianNewly revealed documents show Nazis regarded the Pope as an enemy because of his assistance to Jews.

Pius XII: the Martyrdom of Silence - Dr Emilia Paola Pacelli.Dr Pacelli gives testimony to the Pope's suffering in silence rather than give occasion to the Nazis to worsen their atrocities.

Pius XII’s 1941 Letter Protested Treatment of Jews.Russian historian Evghenjia Tokareva, author of the first Russian monograph on "Fascism, the Church, and the Catholic Movement in Italy (1922-1943)," said that in "January 1941, Pius XII was ready to address a letter to Germany, with a strong protest for the arrest and deportation of 40,000 Jews, but he burnt it, explaining that the protests he expressed before caused very harsh reprisals”.

Pius XII’s Cause of Beatification Progresses.In spite of campaign launched against Pius XII, his cause of beatification "is proceeding rapidly," according to Fr. Peter Gumpel, relator of the cause.

Saviour of the Jews – Michael O’Carroll C.S.Sp.Raises the question of why Pius XII continues to be charged with doing nothing to save the Jews, when the evidence to the contrary is so accessible and compelling.

The Myth in the Light of the Archives – Pierre Blet, S.J.Accusers of Pius XII are referred to the Archives of the Vatican Secretariat of State, accessible since 1964, where files record the day by day, sometimes hour by hour, activity of the Pope and his offices.

World Press Unmasks Fallacies in Book Defaming Pius XII.In a follow-up interview, Dr Peter Gumpel responds to questions on the Cornwell book against Pius XII.

Most of Rome's Jews Were Saved From Hitler's Final Solution.In an interview, given to the German Catholic News Agency (KNA) on 7 November 2000, by Mr Nikolaus Kunkel, a German army officer testifies to Pius XII’s actions to save Roman Jews during the Second World War.

The Good Samaritan: Jewish Praise For Pope Pius XII - Dimitri Cavalli.This article brings together a considerable amount of previously scattered evidence for howJews during Pius's lifetime viewed his conduct. It also raises the question, were the Jews who praised and thanked Pius after the war all mistaken or insincere, or are the attacks on Pius today unfair?

Rabbi defends Pius XII against criticisms - Rabbi David G. Dalin.In an article appearing in the February 26, 2001 edition of The Weekly Standard, a political weekly edited by conservative commentators William Kristol and Fred Barnes, Rabbi David G. Dalin persuasively addresses the criticisms of Pope Pius XII in recent books which argue he did little to oppose the Holocaust during World War II.

Review of Pierre Blet's Book - Konrad Repgen.In this article, a professor emeritus of the University of Bonn reviews the book by Fr Pierre Blet, S.J., Papst Pius XII und der Zweite Weltkrieg. Aus den Akten de Vatikans ("Pius XII and the Second World War, according to the Archives of the Vatican").

Pius XII Saved More Jews Than Schindler.In an interview conducted by L'Osservatore Romano (5 September 2001), historian Rabbi David Dalin defends Pope Pius XII against revisionist historians, who charge him with not doing enough to defend the Jews against Nazi persecution.

For Berlin, Pius XII Was a Subversive.In opposition to continuing charges that Pius XII was unjustifiably silent in the face of Nazism, Protestant pastor Francois de Beaulieu revealed to the French weekly "Reforme" his experience in 1942 as a radio operator secretly spreading Pope Pius's famous Christmas radio message against Nazism.

The Commission That Couldn't Shoot Straight - Dimitri Cavalli.Suspension of the International Catholic-Jewish Historical Commission was announced on 23 July 2001. Mr. Cavalli examines what went wrong with the Commission, formed to evaluate Vatican documents on Pope Pius XII's actions during the Holocaust.

A "Righteous Gentile" Defends Pius XII. A piece on Pope Pius XII by University of Mississippi law professor Ron Rychlak. The author of "Hitler, the War and the Pope", Rychlak counters the charge that the Pope was not involved in Catholic efforts to save the Jews by producing an eyewitness, Tibor Baranski, executive secretary of the Jewish Protection Movement of the Holy See in Hungary during World War II, and honoured by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Gentile.

Pius XII's Directive Helped Save 800 Jews. Newly found evidence shows that Pius XII helped spare the lives of 800 Jews in the Italian cities of Livorno, Lucca and Pisa, when he asked various Church groups to help preserve them from Nazi persecution in 1943 and 1944.

Vatican Told Nuncio to Forego Praise of Hitler.The recently opened Vatican-archives material relating to the interwar era continues to refute the theses that accuse Popes Pius XI and Pius XII of acquiescence to Adolf Hitler. In an interview published by the newspaper Il Giornale, professor Matteo Luigi Napolitano, who teaches church-state relations at the University of Urbino, Italy, described the Holy See's position vis-à-vis the Nazi regime.

On Hitler, the Holy See and the Jews. An interview with historian Father Giovanni Sale about the findings published in his book, Hitler, la Santa Sede e gli Ebrei, in which he analyzed the relations between The Vatican and the Third Reich during 1933-1945.

Pius XII's Aid to Jews Stirred Protests.Documentation from the Vatican Secret Archives has revealed that Pope Pius XII's wartime assistance to Jews was so great that it stirred protests in some Catholic circles. Papers analysed by Peter Gumpel, SJ, an historian and expert on the matter.

Pius XII as a Righteous Gentile.Despite what some modern critics say, Pope Pius XII launched a multifaceted response to the Nazi campaign against the Jews. So says Ronald Rychlak, an adviser to the Holy See's delegation to the United Nations, and University of Mississippi law professor. Rychlak shares some of the information he has amassed in defence of Pius XII and the Church.

Pius XII's Massive Crusade. As the 50th anniversary of the death of Pope Pius XII approaches, errors regarding his life and involvement with the Holocaust continue to persist, says historian Sister Margherita Marchione PhD. Sister Marchione describes the Pope's tireless efforts to save Jews and reunite prisoners of war with their families.

Holy See and the Jewish Question.The publication of a new book has renewed the debate about Pope Pius XII's process of beatification. La Santa Sede e la questione ebraica (1933-1945) (The Holy See and the Jewish Question (1933-1945)) is written by Alessandro Duce, professor of history of international relations at the University of Parma, and published by Studium.

The Encyclical that Infuriated Hitler.On Palm Sunday of 1937, Pope Pius XI's encyclical "Mit Brennender Sorge" was read in all the parishes of Germany. It was arguably the Holy See's harshest criticism ever of a political regime, according to Peter Gumpel, SJ. Pius XII, then Secretary of State, wrote it.

More Testimonies Defend Pius XIIMany past testimonies support Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone's announcement that Pope Pius XII signed a letter in 1943 asking religious institutes to open their doors to persecuted Jews. That wartime letter undercuts the theory that bishops, religious and many Catholics who risked their lives to save Jews from extermination did so without the Pope's knowledge.

My dear tribunus, I'm so delighted to have come here and learned from you of one R.C. Nazi leader who was excommunicated.

As it turns out, it appears the pope had nothing to do with Degrelle's excommunication, for behavior that had nothing whatsoever to do with the Jews:

"From 1940, the Belgian Roman Catholic hierarchy had banned all uniforms during Mass. On July 25, 1943, in his native Bouillon, Degrelle was told by Dean Rev. Fr. Poncelet to leave a Requiem Mass, as he was wearing his SS uniform, which Church authorities had strictly forbidden (due to their perception of the pagan and immoral nature of the SS). For assaulting, beating up and sequestering the priest, Degrelle was excommunicated. The excommunication was later removed after confession by the Catholic chaplain of the Walloon Assault Brigade when it became clear that the unit was to be engaged on the Cherkassy frontline." [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9on_Degrelle ] Killing Jews by the millions wasn't enough to get excommunicated, but messing with a priest, now that was serious!

As for your constant harping on the fact that some Jewish political leaders had nice things to say about Pius XII, at the time of his death, I haven't said much about it because it's so insignificant. A Newsflash: politicians say all kinds of things that they don't really mean. Ever hear Republican Senator's refer to their rivals as "my good friend" and vice versa? What did you expect the few surviving Jews to say about the leader of the Christian world that had almost succeeded in wiping the Jewish people off the face of the earth? They weren't exactly in a position to indict any Christian, let alone the ultimate representative of Christianity!

Now as for your reference to books that defend Pius XII, I have read Rabbi Dalin's book, and doubt that YOU have, as I suspect you would know what a joke it is, and be careful not to associate yourself with this amateurish booklet.

And what is this reference to him as Rabbi David Dalin of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, as though he was a professor there, when all he is is a graduate? He's a professor at Domino Pizza Guy's Ave Maria "University", a school with fewer than 500 students! He's YOUR idea of an authoritative source?!?

The good Tribunus may have completely demolished your argument here, but I certainly have quite a bone to pick with your attitude towards Catholics.

By the way, Tribunus, I greatly enjoy reading your incredible research and devotion to the truth. Please do keep it up. Nous vaincrons.

You note, "You know your Catholic readership, so you must know [calling names and hurling insults ] is all it takes to persuade them." Am I the only one who thinks that this is like the pot calling the kettle black? Did our faith spread through lurid and falsified propaganda, through black legends demonizing our enemies? When persecuted, did we invent myths and lies to attempt to discredit our persecutors? Quite the contrary, Catholicism spread through truth and through love and through goodness. Protestantism on the other hand spread through tracts accusing the Pope of being the anti-Christ, libel of Catholic powers such as France and Spain, and eventually tyrants like Calvin and Cromwell asserting a "Popish" conspiracy against them and keeping their populations in constant fear. Even in your and my native New England, far from Rome or Paris or Madrid, the Puritan Whigs kept their population in constant fear--of Indians, of my ancestors the Québec French, and, when that failed, of witches. Please name one Catholic nation in which the people's hysterical and irrational fear of a nefarious other has led to a tough-talking demagogue taking tyrannical power.

Furthermore, you greet our gracious host as "Dear immaculately conceived Catholic." What do you mean this? Are you implying that we Catholics consider ourselves better or holier than anyone else? Once again, your rank hypocrisy appalls me. We don't speak of ourselves as the "saved" or the "elect" nearly as often as you do--the Lord Himself will make that decision, thank you! Do you presume to know the mind of God? Even Mary, who WAS immaculately conceived, did not! The waters of baptism do not guarantee our sainthood, dear "Reverend." We struggle and fight and err in this world just like anyone else, the only difference being that we have the moral obligation to fess up to our wrongdoings and receive the sacrament of mercy FOR THE GOOD OF OUR SOULS. We cannot remain impenitent and dishonestly just assume that Christ will "cover" us if we hold to outward moralistic standards and attempt to appear as plaster saints, despite the festering of mortal sin in our souls, as some varieties of so-called "Christians" do. Not only does God see through that sickly, self-righteous Protestant smirk, I do as well, as do all sincere people. Only the seriously deluded fall for that, and it's apparent that you're doing everything in your power to delude them all the more. "Pharisee" is indeed an appropriate epithet.

Furthermore, dare I ask why you have come here to spread your propaganda? I don't know if I can speak for everyone here, but, like our host, I'm a strong-minded Catholic. I am fiercely proud of my Catholic and French heritage and culture (and, likewise, ashamed of France's misdeeds when the eldest daughter forsook her Church), and am horrified that so many of my co-religionists, among whom are a not insignificant number of bishops and priests, have ceased to care for their culture and their traditions, which so enriched our world and gave us so many great saints and heroes, and have become impotent and weak cheerleaders for an un-Christian and uncultured society--a society, I might add, that your liberal and Protestant ilk, who speak so highly of tolerance, foisted upon us in a very intolerant manner. For all your types presumptions to "multiculturalism," I suppose that in the end, there are simply some cultures you simply will not tolerate, and for no other reason than the calumnuious propaganda you spread here, that, were it spread against any other religion, would be considered, in your parlance, "hate speech."

So you finally managed to lift your finger and read Wikipedia, did you?

Pity you didn't do so before you began to prate about lack of excommunication!

But - hey! - when did the truth ever bother a Protestant on a mission of anti-Catholic hatred?

It is not surprising that Degrelle's excommunication had nothing directly to do with the Jews since there is no evidence to connect Degrelle with any active persecution of the Jews.

Unlike certain bigoted Protestants who seem willing to persecute and calumniate people even if there is no proof against them, the Catholic Church does not excommunicate even the worst members of its flock without proof.

If you had read the books cited by Wikipedia, you would have learned this.

Degrelle, in an interview, said this:

"I never believed in the purging of Jews and civilians in general, and that was not my war. My war was to fight for my country, which would have been an independent partner of Germany in a Communist-free Europe. This is only now a reality, but we fought for it fifty years ago all the same".

Your claim of "killing Jews by the millions" cannot relate to Degrelle.

Degrelle was a willing dupe of Hitler but there is no hard evidence that he deported Jews to execution, still less had them killed.

If there were, and given that Degrelle remained unrepentant of his actions, both in the Rexist movement and in the Walloon Waffen SS Storm-Brigade that fought on the Eastern Front, it is unlikely that Simon Weisenthal and the Israelis would have allowed him to remain unmolested in Spain as, in effect, they did until his death in Malaga in 1994. Degrelle did not feel the need to flee to Latin America as the Jew-massacring Nazis did.

Neither is there anything unusual in the lifting of the excommunication before he went into battle. That is normal and a chaplain may do so prior to battle. Jewish Rabbis do similar for Jews under ban going into battle.

Nevertheless, confession and sincere repentance is still necessary and without it the excommunication could not have been lifted.

Being a member of the Rexist Party was not, of itself alone, an excommunicable offence in 1943. If it had been, Protestants like you would foam at the mouth at the "intolerance" of the Catholic Church in forbidding membership of political parties.

Moreover, as a matter of fact, one of the reasons why SS uniform was forbidden in Church was precisely because of what it represented: connection with the pagan superstition and heresy of Nazism, the preposterous idea of a Master-race and the disgusting concomitant hatred and persecution of innocent Jews.

So much had already been taught, condemning the Nazi racial doctrines, in the encyclical, Mit Brennender Sorge, "With Burning Anxiety", written by Pius XII when he was a Cardinal.

Where was the equivalent Protestant condemnation??

Well?

Where was it?

The "Barmen Declaration" was completely silent on the issue!

If you wish to condemn the silence of Christians you must utterly condemn your fellow Protestants - not Catholics.

But, true to the mendacious hypocrisy displayed on your site and in your posts, you do not.

You are simply not interested in the truth. You prefer hatred of the innocent and the courageous.

What you call "constant harping on" is, in fact, the consistent and constant testimony of prominent Jews and Jewish leaders who actually lived through the Holocaust - unlike armchair hypocrites like you, living comfortably in modern America, years after the event.

It is typical of a Pharisee that, for the sake of his own campaign of hatred, he would rather see more innocents killed than admit the truth.

Rabbi David Dalin is as good a source as many of yours however much you may dislike Ave Maria University, a fully accredited tertiary level college.

You then attempt to waive aside the commentary of Jews who lived through the holocaust (unlike you) by pretending they are all politicians.

A newsflash: Rabbi Isaak Herzog was a rabbi, not a politician. Albert Einstein was a famous Physicist, not a politician. Ditto most of the other Jews who praised Pope Pius XII. Get used to it.

Further newsflash: look up the word "politician". You plainly do not know what it means.

Moreover, the "Christians" who collaborated with the destruction of European Jews were your fellow Protestants.

Not a word of condemnation from you about them - oh, no!

Why not?

It seems you simply do not care about the death of innocent Jews, so long as you can prosecute your campaign of hatred against the man you call the "ultimate representative of Christianity" i.e. the Pope.

Koroshec was the former chaplain to the last Hapsburg Empress. He was briefly asked to form an all-Yugoslav government by the King of Yugoslavia, a Serbian Orthodox ruler. He didn't last long, so he couldn't have done very much. His own country, Slovenia, was partitioned by the Germans and Italians. It didn't have a 'Quisling' regime, like Norway, Croatia or Slovakia.

Emil Hacha was forced by the Nazis after the Hungarians and Germans took lands from Czechoslovakia to agree to make Bohemia-Moravia a virtual puppet state of Germany and make Slovakia 'free'. He himself wasn't a Nazi, but a weak man in an impossible position forced to sign documents put in front of him.

I fear there is no reasoning with such types as the "reverend" here, as, to them, truth doesn't matter; it's all about self-justification. Ever wonder why Protestant theologies speak so much of "justification?" It's because to them the appearance of being just or righteous and the feeling thereof are actually more important than actually being just!

The "reverend" here, were he in the shoes of Pius XII, would likely have spoken on the issue of the Jewish persecution, which would doubtlessly have led to savage reprisals against the Jews and against the Church itself. (Aside, does the "reverend" forget the brutal massacres of Catholic Poles, or the 5,600 priests and religious of all nationalities killed by the Nazis?) Would the "reverend" then trumpet forth that he did the right thing and feels good about his decision, and continue to moralize vainly while unspeakable horrors are taking place?

Or perhaps the "reverend" would have wanted that, for it is evident he is an anti-Catholic bigot, and those anti-Catholic reprisals would certainly have utterly obliterated the Vatican and most of the Church in Europe, leaving smug champagne socialists to recreate Christianity after their own image.

Tribunus, you say: "It is not surprising that Degrelle's excommunication had nothing directly to do with the Jews since there is no evidence to connect Degrelle with any active persecution of the Jews." Why then did you offer HIS excommunication as proof that Pius XII didn't excommunicate ANY of the many Roman Catholics in the highest positions in the Nazi leadership? Why am I guilty of being "mendacious" when I what I said still stands and all you have said against it is something that was IRRELEVANT?++++++++++++++++++

Tribunus, you say: "A newsflash: Rabbi Isaak Herzog was a rabbi, not a politician. Ditto most of the other Jews who praised Pope Pius XII."

If I were to say: "A newsflash: the Revs. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson were clergymen, NOT politicians", you would be justified in asking, "What kind of idiot are you? They are BOTH clergy and politicians!" Enough said.

++++++++++++++++++

Tribunus, apologists for Pius XI or Cardinal Pacelli who cite the encyclical "Mit Brennender Sorge" as an example of the Vatican condemning "the Nazi racial doctrines" are counting on people not looking up the text themselves to find out what it actually said. Anybody who checks out that claim will find out that the pope didn't publish this encyclical to complain about Hitler's treatment of the Jews, but about his treatment of the Catholic Church. If Pacelli or Pius XI really wanted to condemn the Nazis for their mistreatment of the Jews, why would they assiduously avoid using the actual words "Nazi" or "Jews" if not the fear of offending the Nazis any more than was absolutely necessary by making it clear that the Catholic Church was siding with the Jews? Just 5 days latter, another papal encyclical was published, called "Divini redemptoris".

Unlike the former encyclical, no effort was spared in this encyclical to direct the faithful in no uncertain terms to do battle against "communism", and to spell out in great detail precisely how to do it.

++++++++++++++++++

Tribunus, you say: "Where was the equivalent Protestant condemnation?? Well? . . .If you wish to condemn the silence of Christians you must utterly condemn your fellow Protestants - not Catholics.But, true to the mendacious hypocrisy displayed on your site and in your posts, you do not.You are simply not interested in the truth. You prefer hatred of the innocent and the courageous. . .It is typical of a Pharisee that, for the sake of his own campaign of hatred, he would rather see more innocents killed than admit the truth."

Since I didn't give you the direct link to one of the most important pages of my critique of the role of the Catholic Church, I can't blame you for not having read my statement at http://jesuswouldbefurious.org/Catholic/RC_scandal-2.html that "Although the behavior of Germany's Lutheran Church may have been worse in some ways than that of the Roman Catholic Church, I am going to leave to others the task of exposing the wrongdoing of the Protestant Lutheran churches, in order to concentrate on the sad role of the Roman Catholic Church, for the following (nine) reasons:"

Voloshin was never head of any state of Ruthenia. Ruthenia was partitioned in late 1938, then completely absorbed into Horthy's Greater Hungary. After WW2, it was annexed to (Soviet)Ukraine. He never held power-there was never any country, even a puppet one, to hold power over.

You are like a cracked record. And I've already answered your nonsense.

As Matthew Palardy says, your bigotry is beyond reason.

- Degrelle did not kill millions of Jews. Too bad that does not suit your preference to see more dead Jews.

- There were many Protestants in high Nazi positions - not Catholics.

- What you said no more stands up than does a trendy Reverend flat on his face.

- Repeated newsflash: Rabbi Herzog and Eisntein were NOT (got that, "Reverend" Bigot?) NOT a politician. Still don't understand? As I said: look it up!

- I AM justified in asking: "What kind of idiot are you?".

- From Mit Brennender Sorge (which, by the way, is written, like the letters of St Paul, to fellow bishops, not to non-Catholics, as you fondly suppose!):

"7. Take care, Venerable Brethren, that above all, faith in God, the first and irreplaceable foundation of all religion, be preserved in Germany pure and unstained. The believer in God is not he who utters the name in his speech, but he for whom this sacred word stands for a true and worthy concept of the Divinity. Whoever identifies, by pantheistic confusion, God and the universe, by either lowering God to the dimensions of the world, or raising the world to the dimensions of God, is not a believer in God. Whoever follows that so-called pre-Christian Germanic conception of substituting a dark and impersonal destiny for the personal God, denies thereby the Wisdom and Providence of God who "Reacheth from end to end mightily, and ordereth all things sweetly" (Wisdom viii. 1). Neither is he a believer in God.

8. Whoever exalts race, or the people, or the State, or a particular form of State, or the depositories of power, or any other fundamental value of the human community - however necessary and honourable be their function in worldly things - whoever raises these notions above their standard value and divinizes them to an idolatrous level, distorts and perverts an order of the world planned and created by God; he is far from the true faith in God and from the concept of life which that faith upholds...

11. None but superficial minds could stumble into concepts of a national God, of a national religion; or attempt to lock within the frontiers of a single people, within the narrow limits of a single race, God, the Creator of the universe, King and Legislator of all nations before whose immensity they are "as a drop of a bucket" (Isaiah xI, 15)."

None but a blind fool could miss whom he is talking about! And it certainly wasn't about the "treatment of the Catholic Church".

But blind fool is certainly what you are!

The Gestapo certainly knew - and it resulted in a new wave of persecution of Catholics.

And, clothe-eared and blear-eyed as you clearly are, you bang your perennially broken drum, "why would they assiduously avoid using the actual words 'Nazi' or 'Jews'", though this was clearly explained by the Jewish leaders of the time who later praised Pius XII.

But why should you care? You don't care that millions more Jews may have died!

Your only interest is in your hate-campaign against Pius XII.

Jewish lives? Pah, what do you care?

Whited sepulchre.

- Further newsflash: "Communism" is not a race or a people. The fact that you did not want that odious creed condemned by the popes is hardly a reason for them to take any notice of you.

- And what are the reasons for you failing to condemn the German Protestants?

Cop this folks!

- The Catholic Church is bigger and centralised! (So what?)- There was a Catholic Centre Party! [NB: it closed itself down thanks to its own leadership, not Pius XII] (So what?)- The Church is ancient! (So what?)- Hitler was a Catholic "in good standing"! ("Reverend" if you believe that, you'll believe anything!)- All other Axis power were Catholic! (What? Like Mussolini? He never was. His father named him "Benito" after the Mexican anti-Catholic, priest persecutor, Socialist Juarez. You show your total ignorance, once again).- The Catholic Church claims to be the true Church! (And you Protestants don't? Ha ha, very funny!)

BUT THEN WE GET TO THE REAL HEART OF THE MATTER...

The "Reverend" Bigot doesn't REALLY give two pins for the massacred Jews. Not for a minute!

What he is really cranky about is this:

- The Catholic Church thinks he's wrong to stuff his wife full of contraceptive hormones for the sake of his own pleasure!

- The Catholic Church doesn't agree that the lower digestive passage is a sexual organ!

BUT ABOVE ALL, FOLKS...

...YEP...WAIT FOR IT...

- The "Reverend bigot WAS HIMSELF BOUGHT UP CATHOLIC AND DITCHED THE FAITH and so has to find any old excuse to justify his cowardly retreat from the Faith.

Be fair to Protestants: look at what they did for the Jews in Scandinavia. Denmark's Jews were usually either protected or ferried to safety in Lutheran Sweden. Norway's bishops disestablished their church under the Occupation/Quisling rather than cooperate. Mostly Lutheran Finland, although a German ally, didn't persecute Jews.

My principal objection is to those like the "Reverend" who, blind to the whole-hearted endorsement of Nazism by the "German Christians" and the craven attitude of most of Germany's other Protestants, focus their attacks upon the one group of German Christians who really did stand up to the Nazis - the Roman Catholics.

They are especially dishonest when they pretend that people like Hitler, who always hated the Church into which they had been baptised, were still "devout Catholics".

On that sort of logic one would have to say that the US Founding Fathers were all really British loyalists since, when they were born, they were taught allegiance to King George III.

But, as you can see, the real reason why the "Reverend" attacks Pius XII has nothing to do with his war-time record but is all about unrestricted sexual gratification.

In this respect, the "Reverend" hypocrite is at one with the very Nazis whom he claims to reject.

Friends, I am happy to announce improvements to my web site for which I owe you a debt of gratitude. As a result of researching some of the information provided here, I've modified the page we've been discussing here as follows: "The list of heads of state above was originally compiled by a Hugo Borreson, from Virginia, but thanks to information that I learned from Catholic critics, in Oct. of 2008, I removed Augustin Voloshin,Miklos Horthy, Engelbert D ollfuss, Andrej Hlinka and Anton Koroshec from that list as - for various reasons - they did not belong on it."

In one sense, I'm sorry, because I fear "Liberator Rev" may have jumped to your blog from mine when I linked to a post; on the other hand, I'm glad that he has had the benefit of your excellent knowledge and argument. It has also born further posts of great interest about this subject on your blog.

Two-thirds of the way down that page, he has a picture of two German Lutheran "prelates" of the Protestant Reich Church (I think the one on the right is Reich Bishop Muller). In the picture, they are warmly greeting Hitler. From his inclusion of this image, he is implying that they are pro-Nazi Catholic clerics, when in actual fact, they are collaborating Protestants.

When he commented on my blog, I asked him what he was doing to help end the present day holocaust of abortion and euthanasia. He remained strangely quite on that question.

Thank you very much for your valiant and magnificent defense of the Catholic Faith. That Liberator Rev has been pulverized by your solid reasoning and scholarship. It also helps that your readers are highly knowledgeable also in Church History.

Please keep up the good work.

I am a Catholic priest in the Philippines, running a blog entitled THE SPLENDOR OF THE CHURCH BLOG. My blog contains simple reflections of Catholic Life and some simple apologetic materials for lay people in our Philippine setting. I decided to put a post about Pope Pius XII because the Adventists in our country are attacking our Pastor Angelicus and the role of the Catholic Church during WWII. I gathered simple materials from various sources to share to my readers and I fortunately found your wonderful Blog.

I will promote it in my own and include this blog in my list of favorite blogs.

But, Liberator Rev suddenly appeared in mine also. You are correct. That guy is really determined to destroy the reputation of the holy Pope Pius XII and the Catholic Church in general. Now, I know why the Holy Spirit directed me to your sight. The Dominus et Vivificantem wanted me to know in advance the kind of demon I will face in Liberator Rev.

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in hoc signo vinces

The Roman Emperor and Caesar Augustus Constantine I the Great saw a vision of the Chi-Rho symbol of Christ and the words, in Greek, Εν τουτο νικα (pronounced: "en touto nika") - usually rendered in Latin since then as IN HOC SIGNO VINCES ("in this sign conquer"), before his great victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge on the edge of the City of Rome. Not long after he liberated Christianity throughout the Empire, later himself becoming a Christian. Although Christianity was not made the religion of the Roman Empire until the next emperor, Theodosius, nevertheless winning this battle, seemingly by divine inspiration, caused Constantine to defend, and later to convert to, Christianity. So this victory is said to mark the beginning of the nearly two thousand years of the Christian and Catholic Roman Empire.

imago domini jesu christi

The Holy Face of Our Lord Jesus Christ has been partly re-constructed from the image on the Shroud of Turin. The shroud was loudly dismissed by a scoffing, but often rather ignorant, secular mass media but the latest view is that its image is inexplicable by modern science and most likely miraculous. St Therese of the Child Jesus was devoted to the Holy Face and many saints have had visions of our Lord's face.

Dominus Jesus Christus Rex

This icon of Christos Pantokratoros, Christ the Sovereign-King, reminds us that Christ's rule must be recognised in this world as also the next. His rule and his descent from the tribe of Judah, the royal tribe of Israel, was prophesied in Scripture: "The sceptre shall not be taken from Juda, nor a ruler from his thigh, till he come that is to be sent, and he shall be the expectation of the nations". (Gen 49:10 - Vespers Antiphon for Advent). For our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is not only King of the Jews, spiritually, but also in the flesh, through both his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Princess of Juda, but also through St Joseph, Crown Prince of Juda, and direct descendant of King David, King of the Jews.

ecce homo - behold the man! behold the king of kings!

"And the soldiers plaiting a crown of thorns, put it upon his head; and they put on him a purple garment. And they came to him, and said: Hail, king of the Jews; and they gave him blows. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith to them: Behold, I bring him forth unto you, that you may know that I find no cause in him. Jesus therefore came forth, bearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. And he saith to them: Behold the Man!" (John 19:2-5)

whom kings adore

"When Jesus therefore was born in Bethlehem of Juda, in the days of King Herod, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to adore him". (Matt 2:1-2)

before abraham was, i am

The tetragrammaton, written in Hebrew as YHVH, meaning "I am Who am", signified the ineffable name of God which, having been told to Moses directly by God, was so deeply sacred that Jews were forbidden to say it lest it sound like a claim to be divine. Thus, in prayer, they called God Adonai (your Majesty) or Elohim (God, in the royal plural). When our Lord said "Before Abraham was, I AM" He was thus saying to the Jews very directly that He was God. Catholics used to have a great reverence for the Holy Name of Jesus so that they bowed whenever it was said but, alas, now, many have become careless.

The Queen of Heaven

"And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word." (Luke 1:38). "And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is his name. And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him." (Luke 1:46-50). "But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart." (Luke 2:19)

The trinity of royal and sacred languages: Hebrew, Greek and Latin, used over the Cross, and in the Scriptures and liturgies of the Christian Church, correspond to Father, Son and Holy Ghost, respectively. No Christian could call themselves educated, in times past, without knowing at least one or two of these Classical languages. The Latin language created a unique international community of scholars. Latin remains the primary language of the Church but nowadays even the clergy hardly know it, let alone Greek or Hebrew. Some foolish clergy even rejoice in their lamentable ignorance.

sacred music: chant

Chant goes back to the Jewish Temple worship. It was continued in the Christian Church and codified by Pope St Gregory the Great and was, thereafter, often called Gregorian chant. The oldest liturgy in the Christian Church could be seen in the Easter Triduum services of the Roman rite up to 1955. The ancient Offices of Tenebrae (Matins and Lauds of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday) are virtually unchanged since the earliest times.

CATHOLIC ORIGINS OF MODERN SCIENCE

Modern science has its origins firmly and centrally in the bosom of the Roman Catholic Church. Johannes Buridanus, (1295-1363), or Jean Buridan (pictured above), was a great French priest and scientist, teaching at the University of Paris, who sowed the seeds of modern science by reviving the concept of impetus, an understanding of motion first proposed by John Philoponus (c.490-c.570), the priest-scientist of the ancient University of Alexandria known by Arabs as Yaḥyā al-Naḥwī (or “John the Grammarian”). Philoponus had broken with the Aristotelian–Neoplatonic tradition, questioning Aristotelian dynamics in favour of the concept of impetus. This concept preceded the concept of inertia, which Sir Isaac Newton effectively stole, unacknowledged, from Buridan. Buridan, in turn, had borrowed the idea (but with acknowledgement, unlike Newton) from Friar Francis of Marchia (c.1285-c.1344), an earlier Franciscan scholar at the University of Paris, who had used it as an analogy of the effect of grace received in Holy Communion. The origins of modern science thus derive from an analogy of the Blessed Sacrament. John Philoponus had also argued against the eternity of the world, a theory which formed the basis of pagan attacks on the Christian doctrine of Creation, very similar to those mounted by unoriginal thinkers of today like Professor Richard Dawkins. Philoponus’ critique of Aristotle was a major influence on Italian scholar, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Italian scientist, Galileo Galilei, who cited Philoponus frequently. Pictured above is a likeness of Jean Buridan, arguably the father of modern science.

Roman Emperor

Defender of civilisation

Roman Pontiff

Teacher of civilisation

Roman rite

Spirit of civilisation

holy church & holy empire

Sancta Romana Ecclesia (SRE) - the Holy Roman Church, of which all the Cardinal-Princes of the Church were, and are still today, designated. The Cardinals were, originally, the curia (or court) of the Roman Pontifex Maximus or Pope that formed his chief advisers. The right of the Senate, clergy and commons (Senatus Populusque Romanus - SPQR) of the city of Rome to elect the Pope eventually devolved to the Cardinals. They held the highest rank in the Church after the Pope.

Sacrum Romanum Imperium (SRI) - the Holy Roman Empire, of which all the Prince-Electors of the Empire were, until the end of the Empire in 1806, designated. The Prince-Electors were, originally, the curia (or court) of the Roman Caesar Augustus or Emperor that formed his chief advisers. The right of the Senate, clergy and commons (Senatus Populusque Romanus - SPQR) of the city of Rome to elect the Emperor eventually devolved to the Prince-Electors. They held the highest rank in the Empire after the Emperor.

Both Pope and Emperor had the right of veto in the election of the other. The Pope also had the right to excommunicate an heretical Emperor and relieve his subjects of their fealty and the Emperor had the right to depose a Pope who excommunicated himself by publicly teaching heresy. No public enemy of the Church could thus, in theory, hold either office.

The imperial veto was only abolished in 1912 after it had been successfully used, by the Austrian Kaiser (Caesar or Emperor) Francis Joseph through the Cardinal Archbishop of Cracow, to elect a saint, Pope St Pius X. The new pope feared that in an increasingly anti-Catholic world the power might be misused in the future, so he abolished it.

The imperial veto had earlier been used by Austrian Kaiser (Caesar and Emperor) Francis Joseph to help elect Blessed Pope Pius IX, also.

"But they said: Lord, behold here are two swords. And he said to them, it is enough." (Luke 22:38)

crown of charlemagne

The imperial prayers

"O God, who prepared the Roman Empire for the preaching of the Gospel of the eternal King, extend to Thy servant, our Emperor, the armoury of heaven, so that the peace of the churches may remain undisturbed by the storms of war. Through Christ our Lord. Amen."

[From the Mass Pro Imperatore for the Holy Roman Emperor, used also at the Coronation of an emperor, when the Emperor-elect was anointed by the Cardinal-bishop of Ostia, given the sword and orb by the Pope, ordained by him a Sub-deacon and then crowned Caesar semper Augustus, Romanorum Imperator with the sacred crown of Charlemagne, after which, as Deacon, he served the papal mass.]

"Let us pray also for our most Christian Emperor that the Lord God may reduce to his obedience all barbarous nations for our perpetual peace. O almighty and eternal God, in whose hands are all the power and right of kingdoms, graciously look down on the Roman Empire that those nations who confide in their own haughtiness and strength, may be reduced by the power of Thy right hand. Through the same Lord..."

[Good Friday Intercessions for the Roman Emperor, said after those for pope and clergy in the Roman rite until 1955]

"Regard also our most devout Emperor[Name] and since Thou knowest, O God, the desires of his heart, grant by the ineffable grace of Thy goodness and mercy, that he may enjoy with all his people the tranquillity of perpetual peace and heavenly victory."

[The imperial prayers came at the end of the Exsultet at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday until they were abolished in 1955 by the impious hand of Archbishop Annibale Bugnini, the great architect of the modern, ungainly, liturgy]

arms of imperial austria

pax romana et christiana

"Peace is not merely the absence of war... Peace is the work of justice and the effect of charity. Earthly peace is the image and fruit of the peace of Christ, the messianic 'Prince of Peace'." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2304-5)

Caesar Augustus

Caesar Augustus was the ancient title of the Roman Emperor, adopted by the Roman Catholic Christian emperors after Emperor Constantine I the Great, and derived from Julius Caesar and from his nephew, Octavian, called Augustus, the first Emperor. Constantine I the Great preserved the title, as did the Byzantine Roman emperors, and it was later adopted by the Russian kings called Tsar, meaning Caesar. When Pope St Leo III, at the call of the Roman Senate, clergy and commons, transferred the imperial crown from the usurping and heretical Empress Irene in Byzantium (who had slain her own son, Emperor Constantine VI) to Charlemagne, King of the Franks, on Christmas Day 800 AD in Rome, he crowned him Caesar Augustus. In the German of the Teutonic tribes this was rendered Kaiser (Caesar) and later, Der Heilige Römische Kaiser or "Holy Roman Emperor". The last Roman Emperor, Kaiser Franz II (pictured above in traditional Coronation vestments and the Crown of Charlemagne), was overthrown by Corsican revolutionary and imprisoner of popes, Napoleon Bonaparte, who ushered in the modern era of moral, political and cultural corruption from which the world has been suffering ever since.

The Holy Roman Emperor

Kaiser (Caesar and Emperor) Francis I was the Duke of Lorraine, formerly an imperial territory, when he married the Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresia. She then had him made Holy Roman Emperor (after due election by the Prince-Electors). He is seen here in the sacred coronation vestments and the sacred Crown of the Emperor Charlemagne. He wears the imperial cope and the imperial stole as well as an imperial alb, all privileges of an emperor. In his hand he carries the imperial sceptre and wears the imperial sword. At his coronation, the Emperor is made a deacon, reads the Gospel and serves the Pontifical mass. The above representation is of the central painting in the Giants' Hall of the Innsbruck Hofburg, or Court Palace, which was magnificently re-decorated by Queen-Empress Maria Theresia during the reign of her husband, King-Emperor (Kaiser) Francis I, and further re-decorated after his death. Their reign was a highly successful one, materially, politically and spiritually.

S.R.I. Sacri Romani Imperii

In the same way that Cardinals are designated S.R.E - Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae - "of the Holy Roman Church" - so the Prince-Electors of the Holy Roman Empire were designated S.R.I. - Sacri Romani Imperii - "of the Holy Roman Empire" - the "two swords" of the Church, the spiritual and the temporal, being thereby represented. At the apex of the spiritual was the Pope, the Pontifex Maximus of ancient Rome, and at the apex of the temporal was the Emperor, the Caesar Augustus (in German, Kaiser) of ancient Rome, here pictured above in the person of Emperor and Caesar (Kaiser) Joseph I. He is pictured wearing the sacred Crown of Charlemagne and the sacred coronation vestments and accoutrements. Emperor (Kaiser) Joseph (26 July 1678-17 April 1711) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1705 until his death in 1711. He was the eldest son of Emperor Leopold I, by his third wife, Eleonor Magdalene, Countess-Palatine of Neuburg. Joseph was crowned King of Hungary at the age of nine in 1687, and King in Germany at the age of eleven in 1690. He succeeded to the imperial throne and that of Bohemia when his father died. Although not a devout monarch, he nonetheless ruled reasonably and kept the Empire together and viable.

THE KNIGHTS OF RELIGION (1)

To defend Europe, the Holy Land and Jerusalem and the Holy Places, the Military-Religious Orders of Knighthood came into existence and were later given legal and special recognition by the Church. The most famous of these Orders were the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller of St John, and the Knights Teutonic of St Mary of the Germans, the first two founded by Frenchmen and the latter by a German. They were the most formidable foes of the Islamic Jihadists who sought to conquer Jerusalem and thereafter Europe. They were military armies of knights, sergeants and men-at-arms, but also religious orders whose full members took the vows of religion - poverty, chastity and obedience. Their armies served on the frontiers of Christendom (particularly the Holy Land) but they kept many estates in Europe, run by their quartermaster knights and sergeants, to raise the necessary funds for the defence of Christendom. Because they were so trusted and well-disciplined, they were sought out by the rich and noble to protect their assets and, charging a fee for these services, these Orders became wealthy and were able to defend the boundaries of Christendom robustly. This extended even to providing naval patrols of the Mediterranean Sea against Jihadist pirates and Barbary (Berber) raiding corsairs who plundered the coasts of Europe, burning, pillaging and taking slaves, raping women and taking them as concubines back to Africa. These orders of knights were thus the greatest exemplars of Christian chivalry.

THE KNIGHTS OF RELIGION (2)

The knights of religion thus became the first and foremost defenders of Christian civilisation against its enemies. The Templars were suppressed due to the greed and ambition of King Phillipe IV "le Bel" of France, who was like a French precursor of England's King Henry VIII. The Hospitaller and Teutonic Knights were suppressed in Protestant countries at the Protestant Reformation and the Teutonic Knights continued in German lands until the end of the First World War which caused the virtual abolition of the Catholic kingdoms. Today only the Knights Hospitaller of St John are extant. After the Islamic victory in Palestine, when the last Hospitaller castle fell at the Siege of Acre in 1291, they went to Rhodes and thereafter to Malta which they famously, and successfully, defended against the massive Ottoman Muslim Great Siege of Malta in 1565. Ever since they have been called the Knights of Malta. Today the Knights of Malta have reverted to their first vocation, that of hospitaller, caring for the sick poor, re-living their ancient title, inscribed on the portals of their conventual churches, Servi Domini Nostri Pauperum Infirmorum - "the servants of our Lords, the sick poor", treating the sick poor as they would our Lord Himself - whilst continuing to defend religion. They have priories and associations all over the world, dispense around $1 billion of aid each year and their Headquarters is in Rome. They are recognised as a sovereign state, have ambassadors and their own passports, and the Grand Master is both a religious superior and a ruling prince. Pictured is Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Valette leading the knights at the Great Siege of 1565. Valetta, the capital of Malta today, was named after him. He wears the sopravestita or surcoat of the Order, bearing a white cross on a red field (the Templars had a red cross on a white field, now the national flags of England and of Savoy).

THE KNIGHTS OF RELIGION (3)

The Knights of Malta continue to occupy not only their headquarters in the Palazzo di Malta, Via Condotti, Rome, but also still occupy the Villa Malta, the palace of the Order's Grand Priory of Rome, on the Aventine Hill, one of the original Seven Hills of Rome. This palace is famous for its squint, the keyhole of the main gate, through which tourists can view the dome of St Peter's Basilica but which, through optical illusion, appears much greater than normal. The Aventine Palace also looks directly over the Sublician Bridge, the famous bridge defended, in ancient Roman times, by Publius Horatius Cocles against the invading Etruscan army of Lars Porsena of Clusium, immortalised by English author and public figure, Lord Macaulay (1800-1859), in his poem Horatius at the Bridge, first published in his Lays of Ancient Rome in 1842. It contains this well-known and most famous verse: "Then out spake brave Horatius, The Captain of the Gate: 'To every man, upon this earth, Death cometh soon or late. And how can man die better, Than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers, And the temples of his gods?' ". It is fitting that the site of the bridge for this famous scene should now lie directly below the palace of the Knights of Malta who, in times past, were called upon to defend Roman Christendom and Church.

the habsburgs

"Habsburg", the greatest of imperial names, is a municipality in the district of Brugg in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. The name comes from Habichtsburg meaning "Hawk's Castle". Around 1020, Radbot of Habsburg built Habsburg castle, which was the original family seat of the Habsburgs, the dynasty that later became so prominent as Holy Roman Emperors. After the death of the sons of Emperor Frederick II there was an interregnum but then, in 1273, Count Rudolf of Habsburg was plucked from relative obscurity to be Roman Emperor, the Caesar of Christendom. His rule was very successful and he united the Empire. His memory caused later Prince-Electors to elect his family time and time again so that they occupied the Imperial throne until its end in 1806 and thereafter they became Emperors of Austria.

Tu felix Austria

Alii bella gerent, tu, felix Austria, nubes - "others make war but thou, O happy Austria, make love!" (It was said of the Holy Roman, later Austrian, Empire that it grew by dynastic alliances and royal marriages rather than by war, especially under the largely peace-loving Habsburg emperors.)

St Maurice, black patron saint of the Holy Roman Empire

St Maurice, Knight Commander of the Roman Theban Legion, was martyred with his whole legion of 6,600 for refusing to attack Christians and became, later, the black patron saint of knighthood, chivalry and the Holy Roman Empire. For centuries the Holy Roman Emperors were anointed at his altar in St Peter's Basilica. The site of his martyrdom, Agaunum, is now St Maurice-en-Valais, Switzerland, in the Aargau, the same area wherein lies the original castle of the Habsburgs. He is pictured with St Elmo.

innsbruck hofkirche

The Innsbruck Hofkirche (Court Church) is probably the apotheosis of imperial court design and archtecture. Built in a Gothic church located in the Altstadt (Old Town) district of the imperial city of Innsbruck, Austria, it is a magnificent example of its kind. The church was built in 1553 by Emperor and Caesar (Kaiser) Ferdinand I (1503–1564) as a memorial to his grandfather Emperor and Caesar (Kaiser) Maximilian I (1459–1519), whose cenotaph (centre of picture) portrays a truly magnificent and remarkable collection of German Renaissance sculpture. The sacrophagus, although it does not contain the remains of Kaiser (Caesar and Emperor) Maximilian I, is nevertheless surrounded, in a guard of honour, by magnificent bronze statues of his most prominent relations and some of the great figures of history like King Clovis, first Christian king of the Franks, King Theodoric of the Goths, King Godfrey of Bouillon, King Arthur of Britain (amusingly styled "of England") and others. The church also boasts the tomb of Andreas Hofer, the folk hero of the Tryol who defended both Church and Empire against the invading Bonaparte and his hordes of anti-Catholic, Freemasonic and secularising invaders.

the loyal tyrol

The freedom- and peace-loving Tyroleans like to sing, dance and enjoy life. They were long faithful to the Holy Roman Emperor and he to them. In a foundational document, the Magna Carta of the Tyrol, and called the Tirolerfreiheitsbrief, or the "Imperial Tyrolean Freedom Brief", Kaiser (Emperor and Caesar Augustus) Maximilian I confirmed their right not to be taxed or drafted into military service without the consent of their Parliament, the Landtag in Innsbruck. They thus had "no taxation without representation" for some 600 years before the American revolutionaries thought they had invented the idea. Led in 1809 by the heroic innkeeper Andreas Hofer and others, including Josef Speckbacher and Capuchin friar, Father Joachim Haspinger, they defeated the invading troops of the anti-Catholic, Pope-imprisoning Bonaparte, three times. But Hofer was betrayed by a traitor, taken to Mantua for a show trial and then shot by personal order of the Corsican usurper. The Song of Andreas Hofer is now the proud anthem of the Tyrol.

the peace emperor

His Majesty, the Blessed Emperor Charles of Austria, heir to the Habsburg Holy Roman Empire, pictured as a young officer of cavalry; he later tried to stop the Great War, a fratricidal disaster orchestrated by the enemies of Christendom - but they let him not and instead persecuted him for his pious and chivalrous love of justice, charity and peace so that he died in exile aged just 34...

the peace pontiff

His Holiness, Pope St Pius X, also tried to stop the Great War which set brother against brother and Christian against Christian; his motto was omnia instaurare in Christo - to restore all things in Christ - but he, too, was prevented and persecuted and died a man of sorrows on the eve of the suicidal conflict he had so nobly tried to stop...

christian chivalry and honour

Chivalry, meaning the whole company of knights (from chevalier, French for a mounted knight), later came to mean the knightly Code of Honour. "Chivalry is only a name for that general spirit or state of mind which disposes men to heroic actions, and keeps them conversant with all that is beautiful and sublime in the intellectual and moral world" (The Broadstone of Honour, Kenelm Digby). "And there by ordnance of the Queen it was judged upon Sir Gawaine for ever after he should be with all ladies, and fight their quarrels, and that he should never refuse mercy to him that asketh mercy. Thus was Gawaine sworn upon the four Evangelists" (Morte d'Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory). The chief virtues of Chivalry are Courtesy, Mercy, Religion, Generosity, Hospitality, Courage and Defence of the weak and helpless.

St Bridget of Sweden

St Bridget of Sweden received great revelations concerning chivalry, founded the Order of the Most Holy Saviour and the Royal Convent of Vadstena, Sweden, esteemed and encouraged the military-religious orders and urged and rebuked bishops and popes - especially the latter for not returning to Rome from his "Babylonish captivity" at Avignon in France. Our Lord appeared to her, extolling chivalry, and saying: "A knight who keeps the laws of his order is exceedingly dear to me. For if it is hard for a monk to wear his heavy habit, it is harder still for a knight to wear his heavy armour".

of courtesy

"Of Courtesy, it is much less, Than Courage of Heart or Holiness, Yet in my Walks it seems to me, That the Grace of God is in Courtesy... Our Lady out of Nazareth rode, It was Her month of heavy load; Yet was her face both great and kind, For Courtesy was in Her Mind." (On Courtesy, Hilaire Belloc).

inventio crucis per helena

Roman Empress Saint Helena (Flavia Iulia Helena Augusta), wife of Emperor Constantius Chlorus, and the mother of Emperor Constantine, in 325, on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, discovered the True Cross near Calvary and ordered the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. She also found the nails of the Crucifixion. Her palace in Rome was later converted into Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. It was also said that she was a daughter of King Coel of Camulodunum (“Old King Cole”) and it is clear that Constantine learned of Christianity in Britain.

Blessed Pope Pius IX

Once the enemies of the Church had secured the fall of the Holy Roman Empire, their next target was the Papal States. Under the false guise of Italian Nationalism (which later became Fascism), the secularists of the Risorgimento replaced the benign rule of the popes with that of the corrupt and decadent King Victor Emmanuel of Savoy and his even worse ministers. Once the walls of Rome were breached, Blessed Pope Pius IX ordered his loyal troops, who included many from the great Catholic families of Europe, to surrender lest there be blood spilt in the streets of the Holy City. After that he and his successors remained prisoners of the Italian revolutionaries until 1929. The next target for the revolutionaries was the Austrian Empire and they achieved their aim by 1918, careless that it had cost the lives of tens of millions of young men, senselessly slaughtered in the trenches of the Great War.

Pontifical Zouaves of Pius IX

The Pontifical Zouaves formed part of the infantry troops that defended the Papal States and Rome in 1870 when the Italian revolutionaries attacked with the aim of annexing them and imprisoning the Pope. The Pope frequently visited his loyal Zouaves and was warmly received by all the officers and men of this gallant band of Catholic heroes.

pope innocent iii on the empire

"...We acknowledge as we are bound, that the right and authority to elect a king (later to be elevated to the Imperial throne) belongs to those princes to whom it is known to belong by right and ancient custom; especially as this right and authority came to them from the Apostolic See, which transferred the Empire from the Greeks to the Germans in the person of Charles the Great. But the princes should recognize, and assuredly do recognize, that the right and authority to examine the person so elected king (to be elevated to the Empire) belongs to us who anoint, consecrate and crown him." (Venerabilem, 1202, Pope Innocent III)

POPE PIUS VI ON MONARCHY

"In fact, after having abolished the monarchy, the best of all governments, it [the French Revolution] had transferred all the public power to the people — the people... ever easy to deceive and to lead into every excess…" (Pourquoi Notre Voix, 17 July 1793, Pope Pius VI)

aquinas on kingship

“If therefore, kingship, which is the best form of government, seems to be worthy of avoidance mainly because of the danger of tyranny, and if tyranny tends to arise not less but more often under the government of several, the straightforward conclusion remains that it is more advantageous to live under one king than under the rule of several persons.” (De Regimine Principum, chapter VI, St Thomas Aquinas)

BELLARMINE ON MONARCHY

“If monarchy is the best and most excellent government, as above we have shown, and it is certain that the Church of God, instituted by the most sapient prince Christ, ought to be best governed, who can deny that the government of it ought to be a monarchy?” (De Romano Pontifice, St Robert Bellarmine)

dante on monarchy

"[The] Imperial authority derives immediately from the summit of all being, which is God...But before the Church existed, or while it lacked power to act, the Empire had active force in full measure. Hence the Church is the source neither of acting power nor of authority in the Empire, where power to act and authority are identical...since it is impossible that an effect should exist prior to its cause...Christ attests it, as we said before, in His birth and death. The Church attests it in Paul’s declaration to Festus in the Acts of the Apostles: 'I stand at Caesar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be judged'; and in the admonition of God’s angel to Paul a little later: 'Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar'; and again still later in Paul’s words to the Jews dwelling in Italy: 'And when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar; not that I had aught to accuse my nation of', but 'that I might deliver my soul from death'. If Caesar had not already possessed the right to judge temporal matters, Christ would not have implied that he did, the angel would not have uttered such words, nor would he who said, 'I desire to depart and be with Christ', have appealed to an unqualified judge". (De Monarchia, Book III, Ch.XIII, Dante Alighieri)

return of the king

"From the ashes a fire shall be woken, a light from the shadows shall spring, renewed shall be blade that was broken, the crownless again shall be king!" (The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien, Roman Catholic author)

the royal stuarts - aymez loyauté - love loyalty

Prince Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie"), with Cameron of Lochiel, on his right, and Lord Forbes of Pitsligo (or possibly MacDonald of Clanranald), his most faithful followers among the Jacobite Clan chiefs. Aymez Loyauté ("love loyalty") was the motto of the Royal Stuarts, the legitimate kings of Britain and Ireland but illegally excluded from their rightful throne because, since King James II and VII, they were Roman Catholics and wished to repeal the disgracefully savage laws that meant a man could be hanged, drawn and quartered for repudiating the Anglican and Presbyterian State churches. King James issued a "Declaration of Indulgence" giving religious freedom to his subjects. However, the bigoted anti-Catholic Whigs plotted and instigated treason and invited a foreign power to invade Britain and Ireland, establishing a Dutch Protestant as king. "Dutch Billy" was a pawn of the rich Capitalist Whig oligarchs in Parliament who had disloyally betrayed their true king.

Royal Stuart Arms

skye boat song

"Burned are our homes, exile and death, Scatter the loyal men, Yet, e'er the sword cool in the sheath, Charlie will come again."

henry ix and i, cardinal-king

Prince Henry Benedict Stuart, Duke of York and brother of Bonnie Prince Charlie, later became Cardinal-bishop of Ostia and Velletri and of Frascati, Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals, Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church and, de jure, King Henry IX of England, I of Scotland and Ireland and King of France. He was very nearly elected Pope in the Conclave of 1800 so that he would then have been both Pope and King of England. He died 13 July 1807, just after the fall of the Holy Roman Empire, so that 2007 was the bicentenary of his death.

the old chevalier

Prince James Francis Edward Stuart, the son of King James II and VII, was de jureKing James III of England and VIII of Scotland, the father of Bonnie Prince Charlie and Prince Henry, Cardinal Duke of York. All 3 are now buried in St Peter's Basilica, Rome, commemorated by a famous Canova monument on the left side of the Basilica. James was a faithful Catholic and monarch. Offered the throne of Britain and Ireland by the British Whigs if he converted to Protestantism, he replied that nothing would induce him to abandon his religion. He was thus compelled to fight for his lawful right to the throne but was prevented by treacherous enemies. The result was that the people of Britain and Ireland were delivered into the hands of the brutal Capitalist Whigs and the British, and especially Irish, people became deeply pauperised and shamefully oppressed. The Protestant writer William Cobbett who lived at the time, wrote of even children being starved to death, hanged for stealing sixpence and transported to the colonies for petty crimes, never to see their families again. Roman Catholics in particular were subjected to one of the most savage and oppressive Penal Codes ever to have disgraced European history. This tyranny was the real legacy of the anti-Catholic Whigs.

Vatican monument to the Royal Stuarts

The Monument to the Royal Stuarts is a memorial in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City State. It commemorates the last three members of the Royal House of Stuart: King James III & VIII, his elder son Prince Charles Edward Stuart, and his younger son, Cardinal Prince Henry Benedict Stuart. The marble monument is by Antonio Canova, the most celebrated Italian sculptor of his day. It is a bas relief profile of the three exiled princes, with this inscription: IACOBO•III•IACOBI•II•MAGNAE•BRIT•REGIS•FILIO•KAROLO•EDVARDO•ET•HENRICO•DECANO•PATRUM•CARDINALIVM•IACOBI•III•FILIIS•REGIAE•STIRPIS•STVARDIAE•POSTREMIS•ANNO•M•DCCC•XIX (To James III, son of King James II of Great Britain, to Charles Edward and to Henry, Dean of the Cardinal Fathers, sons of James III, the last of the Royal House of Stuart. 1819.) The monument was originally commissioned by Monsignor Angelo Cesarini, executor of the estate of Cardinal Henry Stuart. Among the subscribers, curiously, was King George IV, who (once the Jacobite challenge had ended) was an admirer of the Stuarts. The monument stands towards the back of the basilica in the left aisle opposite the main door.. It is frequently adorned with white flowers by Jacobites.

Vatican monument for Queen Maria Clementina

Opposite the monument to the Royal Stuarts in St Peter's Basilica is a monument to Queen Maria Klementyna Sobieska, wife of King James III & VIII and mother of Prince Charles Edward Stuart and Cardinal Prince Henry Benedict Stuart. Its inscription reads: MARIA CLEMENTINA M. BRITANN. FRANC. ET HIBERN. REGINA ("Maria Clementina, Queen of Great Britain, France and Ireland"). The reference to France is a continuance of the Plantagenet claim to the French throne, not abandoned until the French Revolution. She was born on 18 July 1702 in Ohlau, Silesia, in the Holy Roman Empire. Her parents were Prince James Louis Sobieski (1667–1737), the eldest son of King John III, and Countess Palatine Hedwig Elisabeth of Neuburg (1673–1722). Imprisoned by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI who was placating King George I of England (the Hanoverian supplanter) so as to prevent her marrying King James, she was rescued by dashing Irish Jacobite, the Chevalier Senator Sir Charles Wogan Bt, in most romantic style. Following her marriage to King James on 3 September 1719 in the Chapel of the episcopal palace of Montefiascone in the Cathedral of Santa Margherita, James and Maria Clementina were invited to reside in Rome at the special request of Pope Clement XI, who acknowledged them as the King and Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland.

distributive justice

Gilbert Keith Chesterton was the apostle of Distributism by which, learning from the Guild system of the Middle Ages and the teaching of the popes, he re-fashioned a model that avoided the extremes of Capitalism and Communism. It was based upon the principle of Subsidiarity that had been the guiding political philosophy of both Church and Empire in times past but which is today much misunderstood and misrepresented. Here is how the Church defines it: "Still, that most weighty principle, which cannot be set aside or changed, remains fixed and unshaken in social philosophy: Just as it is gravely wrong to take from individuals what they can accomplish by their own initiative and industry and give it to the community, so also it is an injustice and at the same time a grave evil and disturbance of right order to assign to a greater and higher association what lesser and subordinate organizations can do. For every social activity ought of its very nature to furnish help to the members of the body social, and never destroy and absorb them." (Quadragesimo Anno, encyclical letter of Pope Pius IX)

an irish bishop on kings

"The character of kings is sacred; their persons are inviolable; they are the anointed of the Lord, if not with sacred oil, at least by virtue of their office. Their power is broad - based upon the will of God, and not on the shifting sands of the people's will... They will be spoken of with becoming reverence, instead of being in public estimation fitting butts for all foul tongues. It becomes a sacrilege to violate their persons, and every indignity offered to them in word or act, becomes an indignity offered to God Himself. It is this view of kingly rule that alone can keep alive in a scoffing and licentious age the spirit of ancient loyalty that spirit begotten of faith, combining in itself obedience, reverence, and love for the majesty of kings which was at once a bond of social union, an incentive to noble daring, and a salt to purify the heart from its grosser tendencies, preserving it from all that is mean, selfish and contemptible." (Dr John Healy, early 20th Century Roman Catholic Archbishop of Tuam, Ireland)

roman and christian

"Christianity as well as civilisation became conterminous with the Roman Empire. To be a Roman was to be a Christian and this idea soon passed into the converse. To be a Christian was to be a Roman."

christian rome

"She was not merely an image of the mighty world, she was the mighty world itself in miniature. The pastor of her local church is also the universal bishop; the seven suffragan bishops who consecrate him are overseers of petty Sees in Ostia, Antium, and the like, towns lying close round Rome: the cardinal priests and deacons who join these seven in electing him derive their title to be princes of the Church, the supreme spiritual council of the Christian world, from the incumbency of a parochial cure within the precincts of the city. Similarly, her ruler, the Emperor, is ruler of mankind; he is deemed to be chosen by the acclamations of her people: he must be duly crowned in one of her basilicas. She is, like Jerusalem of old, the mother of us all."(The Holy Roman Empire, James, Viscount Bryce)

After Rome: Communism and the bogus "Third Reich"

After the appalling bloodshed of the Great War and the fall of the Austrian Empire in 1918, and with it the idea of the Roman Empire, the gaping void was filled first with tears and sorrow and then with Marxist Socialism in Russia and National Socialism in Germany. Both Communists and Nazis persecuted Roman Catholicism. The Nazis even pretended to be successors of the first and Roman Empire, and of the German Protestant Empire but their claim to be a "Third Reich" was bogus and they were condemned by the Church and by all civilised men. Men hypocritically speak of the violence of former centuries but no century has ever been anything like as bloody as the 20th century.

Maundy Thursday 13 April 2017 - Miracle at Garabandal?

At San Sebastian de Garabandal, our Lady is said to have appeared to some Spanish children and given messages to the world. The messages give us a clue as to when a Warning and a Miracle (a "permanent sign" at the Pines pictured above) are likely to occur, the former within a year of the latter. We are told that the Miracle will occur as follows: 1. On a Thursday at 8.30pm; 2. On the Feast Day of a martyr of the Blessed Sacrament; 3. On a Feast of great ecclesiastical importance; 4. In March, April or May; and 5. The chief visionary, Conchita Gonzalez, has been told by our Lady to reveal the exact date, 8 days beforehand. This seems to be decipherable, particularly if one accepts that our Lady said it must occur within the lifetime of the still living Conchita, now in her 60s. The next time there will be a Feast of truly great ecclesiastical importance on a Thursday in March, April or May, which coincides with the Feast of a martyr of the Blessed Sacrament is Maundy Thursday 13 April 2017. That date is the Feast of Spanish martyr for the Eucharist, Prince St Hermenegild. It will also see the rare coincidence of Maundy Thursday and Easter in both East and West, together with the Jewish Passover. It will also be the 100th anniversary year of the Fatima apparitions. Is this significant? Could this be the day of the Miracle? It seems eminently possible.

About Me

Western culture is, above all else, Roman - and Christian Roman at that. This is so because it has been shaped and defined by Roman Catholicism, ruled by a Roman Emperor, guided by a Roman Pontiff and blessed by Roman rites in a Roman language. Even its enemies have been forced to recognise this. Our laws, our science, our culture, our art, our music, our literature, our scholarship, our primary institutions all derive from this Roman and Christian heritage. The oldest rite of worship in the Christian Church is the classical, Roman rite, deriving, as it does, from the ancient Jewish Temple worship, perfected under Roman rule. It is theologically unsurpassed. It is a timeless love song to the Creator of all things. In a curious "trahison des clercs", many today, even amongst the clergy, have forgotten this and so have become disconnected from their spiritual and cultural roots. It is perhaps time to recall and re-capture our traditions and to re-connect with them in a modern setting.